Shuibei Jewellery Zone

Shuibei, in Shenzhen's Luohu District, is "China's Jewellery Capital" — the country's largest and most complete gold-and-jewellery cluster, and Asia's largest jewellery wholesale hub. Where the West has historic quarters, Shuibei is the modern engine room of the trade: the place much of the world's jewellery is made and moved in bulk.

The scale is the story. By the end of 2023 the Luohu jewellery industry counted more than 20 specialised markets and nearly 20,000 businesses employing over 63,000 people, with combined annual revenue past 120 billion yuan (about US$16.5 billion). Shuibei is said to handle on the order of 60% of China's gold trading, 70% of its diamond wholesaling, and 80% of the country's rough-diamond imports.

It is a remarkably recent rise — "from border fishing village to golden capital." Shenzhen became China's first Special Economic Zone in 1980, and over the following four decades Shuibei built a complete industrial chain: design, R&D, production, exhibition, trading, branding, and testing, all clustered together.

This is not a tourist market but the trade's factory-and-wholesale floor — fast, industrial, and business-to-business — sitting behind the retail you see in other cities.